Canvas Church of Lenoir City’s former pastor, Nicholas Rains, pled guilty to stealing a quarter of a million dollars in church funds duirng his May 29 court date.
Rains was given a 120 day sentence to be served out in the Loudon County Jail, with an additional eight year sentence of probation. He will also be required to pay the church a restitution fee of $100,000. Rains is reported of stealing as much as $250,000 during his time with the church, making the offense a Class B felony.
“This is obviously a compromised plea agreement due in part to the divided opinion of the church who all want to move forward and forgo a jury trial that would have required going line by line through each purchase as many of the purchases include both church and personal uses, and as is the nature of many small churches, a lack of proper accounting controls that should always be in place to prevent and detect fraud, as there is usually a large amount of trust involved when the preacher is allowed to have control of the church funds,” said District Attorney Johnson.
A release from Johnson also stated that the church has placed a lien on Rains’ house, which must be paid by either the end of the year or whenever the house, which is currently on the market, is sold.
The case originally began in April of 2023, when several church members noticed funds going missing and asked Rains to step down from his position before they began their own internal investigation. Most of the purchases were made using a credit card paid for by the church, with purchases including groceries and personal items all the way up to personal vacations, house payments, and ‘expenditures for female companionship.’ A formal investigation was conducted by the Tennessee Comptroller’s Office.
Rains has since left Canvas Church, which is now known as Vineyard Church of Lenoir City, following the misuse of funds. Reportedly, he had begun to work at a church in Roane County before his sentencing.
